How to measure if your website is generating results
How to measure if your website is generating results
Many companies invest in a professional website but then do not know if it is actually generating results.
Without metrics, every decision about the site is based on intuition. With metrics, you know exactly what works, what needs improvement, and whether the investment is worthwhile.
This article shows which metrics to track and how to interpret them.
Website traffic
Traffic is the most basic metric but also one of the most important. It shows how many people visit your website.
What to measure:
- Total visits per month
- Visits by source (organic, direct, social media, referrals)
- Visits per page
- Growth trend over time
Tool: Google Analytics.
A healthy business website shows consistent traffic growth month after month. If traffic is stagnant or declining, something needs adjustment.
Conversion rate
The conversion rate measures how many visitors take the desired action: filling in a form, requesting a quote, or making a purchase.
How to calculate: number of conversions divided by total number of visitors, multiplied by 100.
What is normal:
- Business websites: 1 to 3 per cent
- Well-optimised landing pages: 5 to 10 per cent
- E-commerce: 0.5 to 2 per cent
If your conversion rate is below the sector average, the problem is in user experience, the message, or site usability.
Bounce rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave the site without interacting with any page beyond the one they entered on.
What it means:
- Below 40 per cent: excellent
- Between 40 and 60 per cent: normal
- Above 70 per cent: something is wrong
High bounce rates can indicate:
- The site loads slowly
- The content does not match what the visitor expected
- The design does not convey trust
- The navigation is confusing
Leads generated
For most companies, the goal of the website is to generate leads: contact requests, quotes, newsletter sign-ups.
The metric here is how many leads the site generates per month and what the quality of those leads is.
If the site receives traffic but does not generate leads, the problem is in the conversion path: the form may be too long, the CTA may be poorly positioned, or the value proposition may not be clear.
Google ranking
Your site position in Google search results is an indicator of your SEO health.
What to track:
- Average position for main keywords
- Number of keywords the site appears for
- Clicks and impressions in Search Console
- Evolution over time
Tool: Google Search Console.
Return on investment
The website ROI compares what you spent with what you gained.
How to calculate:
- Add up all costs: site creation, maintenance, hosting, SEO, content, ads
- Add up all value generated: sales, closed contracts, leads converted into customers
- Divide the value generated by the total cost
A positive ROI means the site is generating more value than it costs. A negative ROI means the strategy needs to be reviewed.
How to create a metrics dashboard
Instead of looking at isolated metrics, create a dashboard with the main metrics and track the evolution over time.
Suggested monthly dashboard:
- Total visits and by source
- Conversion rate
- Bounce rate
- Leads generated
- Average Google position
- Estimated ROI
With this dashboard, you can make informed decisions about what to improve on the site and where to invest more.
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